TOP 10: Realignment triggers early release of thousands of inmates

Riverside County set a record in 2012. But it wasn't something anyone was standing up and cheering about.

By the middle of November, the Sheriff's Department had kicked out of jail more than 6,000 inmates who hadn't finished serving sentences they had been given for their crimes.

That shattered a previous mark of 6,001 early releases set in 2007.

The county expected to finish 2012 sending about 7,000 prisoners home early for the year as a whole, said Chief Deputy Raymond Gregory, who oversees the correctional system.

“Everybody gets out eventually, except those who are in for capital crimes," Gregory said in a telephone interview. "Our whole justice system is built on a period of punishment and rehabilitation for people who are sentenced for their crimes. When we are not able to hold them for that period, some might argue that the system is thwarted. It kind of goes against everything that we try to uphold.”

At the same time, the law requires that inmates be provided access to a variety of services and be kept in uncrowded facilities.

Under a 1993 federal court order enforcing those rules, whenever county lockups reach capacity the sheriff has to let people out to make room for those being booked into jail.

Those "fed kicks," as officials refer to them, have been rare in some years and abundant in others.

During the housing boom and associated population explosion last decade, the county routinely released thousands of inmates early every year. Then late in the decade, releases slowed dramatically.

In 2010, just 76 got out early.

Officials credited the slowing economy and the opening of a 582-bed addition to the Banning jail for easing the strain.

But relief was short-lived. The trickle abruptly gave way to a flood, with the debut of realignment in late 2011.

Realignment is the controversial and profound change in California's justice system that shifted much responsibility for prisoners from the state to counties. Scrambling to make room in state prisons to comply with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Sacramento forced county jails across the state to house nonviolent criminals who otherwise would have gone to prison.

Virtually overnight, the population in Riverside County jails swelled.

The county's 3,906-bed, five-jail system went from 85 percent full on Oct. 1, 2011, the day realignment took effect, to completely full on New Year's Day 2012. The sheriff began letting inmates out in droves and the pace remained steady throughout the year.

There was some related good news out of Sacramento in 2012: The state in March awarded Riverside County $100 million ---- matching the largest amount given anywhere in the state ---- for building jail beds.

The county plans to use the cash to defray half the cost of a 1,250-bed expansion of its Indio jail.

But that's a long-term project. With a 2017 anticipated completion date, it's not going to provide short-term relief. It won't do anything for the crowding problem in the coming year.

So officials are focusing on other solutions, such as assigning qualified inmates to state fire camps and sending others home with electronic ankle bracelets that track them.

Look for those options to be pursued aggressively in 2013, Gregory said.

The county also is aiming to thin out the population by keeping offenders who are out on probation from committing more crimes and going back to jail.

Late in 2012, the Probation Department established a "day reporting center" in Riverside. It is sort of a one-stop shop where probationers can go to for health services, social services and job training, as well as to earn a high school diploma.

The idea is to set people up for success as they transition back into society.

“If you’re going to change direction in these people’s behavior, you have to deal with the instances that created it,” Crogan said.